


...With Envy

by DruidDan



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Abuse, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Jealous Barry, Jealous Oliver, M/M, Not Beta Read, dumb dorks in love, possessive oliver, slightly cracky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DruidDan/pseuds/DruidDan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry and Oliver make a great team both on and off the mean streets, but what if a seemingly perfect new hero arrived and made them question that?</p>
            </blockquote>





	...With Envy

**Author's Note:**

> First off I am VERY new to these fandoms, so please forgive any errors in continuity and timeline. I haven't watched all the episodes and the ones I have watched have been mostly out of order, lol.
> 
> I am however a HUGE fan of Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin's portrayals of the titular heroes of these series and think they are doing a fantastic job!
> 
> The idea for this story came from a stray thought I had; In the comics, it's never 'Green Arrow and the Flash!' it's always either 'Green Lantern and Green Arrow!' or 'Green Lantern and the Flash!' those are the friendships/rivalries that are most known and most popular. So what if a version of GL showed up in the TV-verse? How would our heroes react? ESPECIALLY if they were in a romantic partnership as well as a heroic one?
> 
> Note 1: In this story the narrative is influenced by the characters opinions, depending on who's POV is driving the scene it can influence how actions are described.
> 
> Note 2: This Green Lantern is not (I repeat NOT) the Ryan Reynolds version! As much as I love Mister Reynolds (and I do) I would not inflict his travesty of a Green Lantern on our boys, no, no! This is an entirely new version of the character. You can pretty much picture anyone you want in the part but in my mind it's Richard Madden sporting an American accent. ;)

 

                It had been a very long night. The Arrow and the Flash had teamed up once again and were hot on the trail of a new meta-human criminal who had already cut a swath of destruction through both Starling and Central City and now they had finally made visually contact with him in Coast City of all places.

                He called himself Doctor Polaris, Cisco maintains he could have come up with something better, he had pretty silly looking purple armor but his ability to hurl a car at you as if it was a spit wad, without even having to touch it might I add, was nothing to laugh about.

                Oliver was currently hunched on yet another rooftop, having just barely made it off the first one before Polaris nailed him, trying to a land a shot for a sonic arrow; hoping if he couldn’t pierce his armor he could at least cut his concentration.

                Barry was whirling around, barely visible, attempting to simultaneously get bystanders out of the way and attack Polaris.

                Roy had been knocked out earlier, Diggle dragging him back to the collective Flash/Arrow teams, and Laurel was relegated, reluctantly, to crowd control; it was down to just the two of them. Normally they would beg for some ‘just them’ time.

                And so far the two of them together had only managed to stalemate the magnetic malcontent. Hadn’t stopped him but hadn’t let the threat he posed escalate either. Though they were starting to run out of ideas and even Barry was beginning to tire.

                “Flash!” The Arrow shouted in his “Arrow” voice after Polaris managed to snag onto one of the metal ear-pieces on his suit finally figuring out they were metal and making Barry hate himself for not thinking of that eventuality himself. Polaris “pulled” Barry right out of his run and managed to pull him to the ground. Barry began considering removing his mask before the maniac used his power to take advantage of pinning him down by obliterating him right there and then.

                “Arrow… I’m going to have to--” Before he could finish his thought he was struck dumb by a brilliant flash of green light.

                Before either hero knew exactly what was happening: Doctor Polaris was encased in a translucent bubble of green energy. The not so good Doctor seemed just as perplexed at the heroes, and now he seemed to be more focused on escape then attack: using nearby streetlamps on the force bubble ineffectively. After a terse moment, the bubble cascaded to the ground, effectively knocking the maniac unconscious.

                Oliver looked at Barry who had stood back and was readjusting his mask, the lovers looking at each other with identical expressions of bemusement.

                Their unspoken questions were answered when a handsome man descended from the pitch dark sky, the same ethereal jade glow all around him, wearing a bright green costume with black arms and leggings, a strange symbol, that Barry will later describe as a “tipped over TIE fighter”, on his chest. He had very chiseled features, and brown hair with a subtle curl/wave to it; a green mask obscuring his eyes and part of his nose.

                “Hi. I’m Green Lantern.” The new hero said with a Topgun-esque smirk, “Nice to meet you.”

 

+++

 

                “Team Flash” had set a sort of mobile STAR Labs while they and their “Team Arrow” counterparts worked on a way to contain Polaris. Caitlin and Cisco had managed to rig up a plastic prison of sorts that would, hopefully, hold long enough to get to a permanent structure back in Central.

                The Green Lantern was arguing against this, saying he had his own methods and questioned the legality of the Pipeline, mentioning messy words like “due process” and “fair trial”. He was currently talking with Caitlin who was doing her best to describe the accelerator to him and not make it sound like a lawless gulag. Oliver was helping with this (not that he was a big “talker), but he thought he might be able to assuage the Green Lantern’s reservations about making an exception to his “code” as he also preferred to work with the police than act as them on most occasions. Also because the Lantern had claimed to be a “fan” of his, which caught Barry’s ear.

                Barry started to walk towards them when Felicity gently grabbed his shoulder. Barry stifled a groan, as he longed to go be with Oliver… specifically to stand between him and the Green Lantern in various poses.

                “There’s a call for you Bar.” She smiled sunnily at him, making him feel incredibly guilty for getting momentarily mad at her.

                Barry reluctantly walked away from the chemistry happening between his boyfriend and a dashing new hero, chemistry that he hoped was only in his insecure little head, as Doctor Wells’ face appeared on a vid screen on Cisco’s monitor.

                “Is this man another metahuman?” Doctor Wells asked after Barry filled him in on the particulars of the battle and the new hero.

                “No his power comes from a ring on his finger. It doesn’t look quite right, like it’s… alive.”

                It was true the small green ring on the man’s hand pulsed and glowed with an eerie energy.

                “What kind of name is Green Lantern? His power comes from a ring not a lantern…?” Cisco started a rant but Barry wasn’t really listening as stared at Oliver and the Green Lantern. The Lantern was about Oliver’s age. Barry began thinking about how he could be a little immature, over excitable, ADHD, Irresponsible… This guy wouldn’t be like that. He was a professional.

                “You okay Barry?” Felicity asked noticing his faraway eyes.

                “What? Yeah just wondering what this Green Lantern’s deal is.”

                “He seems quite capable, experienced. Maybe even current or former military.” Diggle said offhandedly as he came in from checking on Roy.

                “Great!” Barry said in a way that successfully masked his sarcasm but came off as way too excited. ‘Oliver wouldn’t need to worry about him, wouldn’t need to train the awkward noob how to take care of himself.’

                Barry flashed back to an all too recent interaction between him and his Arrow:

                _< “I want you to be careful out their Barry, this guy is more powerful than most of your “rogues”.” Oliver chided, his gloved hand cupping Barry’s cheek._

_“I know Ol. I deal with metas on a daily basis. You should be more worried about your team. Do they have enough of those non-ferrous arrows?”_

_“We got it covered. The only thing I’m worried about out there is you.” He said as he placed a kiss on Barry’s forehead. >_

                ‘Oliver wouldn’t need to worry about this guy having his back…’

                “What are you thinking Barry?” Felicity asked eyeing him closer.

                “Nothing, he seems great. I love a hero in green you know that.” ‘They even match’ he thought to himself. ‘When Oliver and I go out we begin to look like two Christmas elves.’

                “Elves?”

                ‘Damn, said that out loud.’ Barry thought mentally smacking himself. “Sorry, you know me. Mind going a mile a millisecond.” Barry winked.

                “Barry you have nothing to worry about.” Felicity smiled at him.

                “What? I know that.” Barry said distractedly, his eyes widening as Oliver appeared to grin at something the Green Lantern said. “Is he smiling???” Barry asked out loud before he could stop himself. ‘I’m the one who gets him to smile…’ he finished wordlessly in his head.

                “Barry I know it’s new between you two…” Felicity said resting a hand on his shoulder, “But you really do have nothing to worry about.”

                “I know…” Barry said wistfully.

                “Do you? Listen; as someone who has been on the receiving end of both you and Oliver’s attempts at courtship let me tell you I know what it looks like when I see it. Don’t interrupt me Barry. It’s not just that he wouldn’t… Oliver… he doesn’t just do that. Do you know how many almost starts we had? How many times he put up roadblocks to his own happiness? He tore them all down for you. That wasn’t easy for him, you shouldn’t take that lightly.” She smiled fondly at him.

                Barry wanted to say a thousand things to her, he looked back at her, away from his love, and clasped her hand.

                “I don’t.”

+++

 

                The whole colorful group of them somehow made it back to Central City in one piece. They had convinced the emerald crusader (one of Cisco’s suggestions should he reconsider his current nom de plume) to come back and see the pipeline and talk to Doctor Wells in person.

                Roy stayed behind, he had a mild concussion but would otherwise be okay, as did Diggle who claimed erroneously that he hadn’t seen his daughter in two weeks.

                The Green Lantern had made himself quite at home, looking sufficiently impressed with everything. Wells was giving him a tour and he had made a point to come and talk to Barry. Something Oliver noted with quickly narrowing eyes.

                ‘What’s with this guy?’ Oliver thought to himself. He looked him over; he reminded him of Ray Palmer with whole dreamboat vibe but this was a Ray Palmer who had actually clocked some field time in the trenches instead of a boardroom. One thing he did have was that easy smile. Not a hint of angst or brooding. ‘He deserves someone like that.’ Oliver caught himself thinking before he could stop himself. He flashed back to a conversation he had had with his love just a short time ago:

                _ <“We got it covered. The only thing I’m worried about out there is you.” He said as he placed a kiss on Barry’s forehead._

_“You worry TOO much.” Barry smiled back brightly._

_“Somebody’s got to do it.” Oliver said his affectionate tone giving way to angst. Barry cupped his jaw and gently moved his face so they were looking eye to eye._

_“It doesn’t always have to be you though.” Barry said with a chaste kiss on the lips. >_

                ‘This guy can relax I bet, this guy doesn’t always expect the worst… he can enjoy life.’ Oliver’s inner monologue was quickly switching from his voice to a younger more exuberant one, one he knew all too well that belonged to the young man who Green Lantern was currently charming pretty damn easily.

                “Not that we needed his permission” Cisco said with a grumble breaking Oliver out of his reverie, “but the Green Gladiator over there OKed putting Polaris in the pipeline. Putting Polaris in the pipeline… try saying that five times… Oliver?” Cisco said noticing that the older man wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to him, instead focused on the new hero among them. Oliver had run over some of the more legitimate excuses to dislike him and was now instead focusing on how Barry only needed one green costumed hero and this guy even had the color in his name so it’s not like he could make him change it… ‘Maybe I should put ‘green’ in my name…’

                “Oliver?”

                “Don’t interrupt his brood Cisco.” Laurel reproved sidling up to her ex-boyfriend.

                “But we got the bad guy!” Cisco shouted only to wilt at Oliver’s glare.

                “No,” Oliver interjected, “He got the bad guy.”

                He looked back over at where the Green Lantern, Doctor Wells and his own young boyfriend were talking. Except, with some alarm, he noticed Wells was no longer with them. ‘God’, he thought, ‘they’re laughing’. He could count the times he shared a laugh with Barry on one hand. They were only times in recent memory he’d laughed so they weren’t hard to recall. Barry was his laughter.

                “Where’s Wells?” Oliver growled.

                “He and Caitlin went to prepare the cell for Polaris.” Cisco said, “I’m uh… gonna go see if they need a hand.” He gulped, reading the room.

                About that same time Oliver saw the Green Lantern rest a hand on his, HIS, boyfriend’s bicep for a split second that seemed to take an hour. He lurched forward but Laurel’s gentle hand on his own arm stopped him.

                “I know what you’re thinking.”

                “I don’t think you do.”

                “Barry wouldn’t cheat on you. Not everyone’s a cheater.”

                “Laurel…”

                “Now, now. I’m over it. I’m just saying. You’ve cheated. You’ve made the trip through that thought process, that logical leap that let you think that action was okay, even if you regret it. You know how easy it can happen and now you’re seeing the other half of that equation.”

                Oliver started to say something but closed his mouth.

                “But,” Her tone changed, became warmer, “Not everyone can even begin to make that trip. Some people, like Barry, can’t even begin to process the thought of it. You’re it for him, the way he looks at you. Hell, even I never looked at you that way.” Laurel laughed slightly, “And you know what?”

                “What?” Oliver looked at her for the first time in this conversation.

                “That’s the way you look at him right back.”

                “Thank you Laurel.” Oliver said gruffly but sincerely.

                “Anytime.”

 

+++

 

                “It was nice to meet all of you.” Green Lantern boomed as they walked him, too slow for some, out of the lab. “I hope we’ll get to collaborate again.” He winked.

                There was an awkward pause where both Barry and Oliver smiled in a way that wasn’t all that sincere but said nothing, which was thankfully broken by Cisco bursting forward.

                “That would be awesome! Listen, have you ever thought of a name change? What about ‘Power Ring’? Makes WAY more sense.” The young man said throwing his arm over the taller man’s shoulder.

                “Sounds a little villainous for some reason.” Green Lantern smirked, “Besides the name kind of came with job. I don’t want to even know what a demerit from my superiors would even be like.” He joked.

                “Anyways Coast City must be missing you.” Oliver grunted.

                “Yeah lord knows what it would do without you.” Barry sighed.

                “No place like home,” Green Lantern smiled, “If either of you ever need any help just let me know.” He said waving the communicator Caitlin had given him.

                “Thank you but--” Barry started hesitantly before being interrupted.

                “We’ll be fine.” Oliver finished, laying his hand on Barry’s shoulder.

                “Oh I’m sure you will.” The new here said with a nod, “Say goodbye to Doctor Wells for me. Let him know I’ll be checking on Polaris.”

                Both Barry and Oliver’s stomachs dropped at that.

                “We look forward to it,” Caitlin said with smile, “Maybe we can convince you to tell us more about your story. We’re always looking to fill in the blanks of the many mysteries this world has to offer.”

                “We shall see.” He laughed.

                “Goodbye GL.” Felicty waved.

                “Goodbye Miss Smoak, Canary.” He nodded to Laurel and Felicity with a wave and with that was airborne. The same green light surrounding him and lifting him up into the sky. Cisco and the girls watched him go but Barry and Oliver immediately looked at each other, though it was clear they hadn’t meant for the other to be looking back.

                Oliver motioned Barry away from the others, walking over to a corner by the lab door. Barry lowered his mask and followed him.

Oliver tried to put on his most sincere smile as he watched Barry walk over to him, and as soon as he could he took his boyfriend’s hand and finally let himself relax a bit, just a bit.

                “Are you alright? When Polaris grabbed you… I… I thought…”

                “I’m fine, I’m fine I swear." Barry squeezed Oliver's hand for a moment before releasing it, "Are you okay?" He gently removed the older man's hood and framed his face with his hands, checking him over thoroughly.

                “Now who worries too much?” Oliver chided.

                “I think a fair share is done by all.” Barry smiled softly, almost sadly, not his usual megawatt style.

                “So about this new guy…” Oliver started but let his voice drift off.

                “He seems…” Barry began not sure he knew where he was going with that train of thought.

                “Experienced.”

                “Very nice.”

                “Powerful, maybe a bit too powerful but…”

                “Very by the book, he could learn to bend the rules a bit more but you know….”

                “He’s…”

                “Very…”

                “I hate that guy.”

                “I hate that guy.” They spoke in unison, each of their eyes widening as they did so. For a second they said nothing and then, they laughed.

                “I love you.” Oliver said pressing their foreheads together.

                “I love you.” Barry returned with just as much meaning before their lips met. A simple kiss turned passionate. Oliver wrapped his arms around Barry’s waist tightly and practically lifted him off the ground; it was only with the sound of a throat clearing that it all stayed PG rated. The two lovers separated, more or less, and looked up to see Felicity watching them fondly.

                “So, he really gone?” Oliver said with an eye roll, one arm still slung around Barry's waist.

                “Yep.”

                “Thank God. Now we just need to wait in horror for his first “check in”.”

                “I don’t think you’ll have to wait too long before you hear from him again.” Felicity smirked knowingly.

                “Why’s that?” Barry asked, smile dimming a tad.

                “He gave me his number.” The girl genius winked walking away from the lovebirds.

                “I hate that guy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Welp I hope you liked it! And for avid fans of the two series I hope there weren't too many glaring errors! lol
> 
> I really wanted to end the story on the somewhat reoccurring gag of every hero having to hit on Felicity at one point or another, heh. The perfect punch line the guys' perceived idea he was flirting with them.
> 
> Feedback drives me! So please let me know if you loved it! if you liked it! Even if you hated it! I want to hear it all!!!
> 
> Love yah, see yah, byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye! <3


End file.
